Tapisserie - Summer, from the series: Earth.

Wool, 265 x 392 cm;
France, Gobelins, 2nd half of the 17th century.
In a landscape scene, seated on a lion-drawn chariot is Ceres, the personification of the harvest of summer, next to her daughter (an analogy to the Greek Demeter and her daughter Cora). Surrounding the figure is a horn of plenty with fruit, a sheaf of grain; bounded by trees, the close plan opens in the central part to a wide, slightly undulating landscape in the distance. The whole is captured by a bordure with floral and fruit motifs. An engraving by Sabastien Le Clerc (b. 1637) - court engraver and draughtsman of Louis XIV - shows a design (?) for a tapisserie slightly different from the offered fabric (camel, farm implements, bordure, et al. - cf. H. Havard, "Dictionaire de l'Ameublement, vol. III, pl. 23). Another realization of the design in question (approx. 260 x 390 mm) - next to "Spring" and the half-smaller "Autumn" and "Winter" is in the Hall of the Council of State of the Principality of Monaco, purchased by Prince Rainier from one of the largest traders of Chevallier tapestries. Of exceptional quality, a magnificent work of the masters of French weaving art of the 17th century, a great rarity on the Polish antiquarian market.